RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of peripheral artery disease and the validity of clinical signs for its diagnosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. METHODS: Setting: Health center (Mariñamansa,Orense). PERIOD: January 2011-January 2013. INCLUSION CRITERIA: Patients with type 2 diabetes, informed consent. MEASUREMENTS: Age, sex, diabetes duration, body mass index, Charlson index, blood pressure, ankle-brachial index (ABI), cholesterol levels, smoking. Cardiovascular risk (UKPDS). Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire. SAMPLE SIZE: n=323 (± 5.5% accuracy, 95% confidence). STATISTICAL ANALYSIS: multivariate logistic regression analysis. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and agreement were estimated. Informed consent and ethics committee approval were obtained (2010/278). RESULTS: Mean patient age was 71.56±12.73 years, and mean diabetes duration 12.38±9.96 years. Symptoms of intermittent claudication were reported by 26,4% of patients, ABI was normal (0.9-1.1) in 37.2% of patients, less than 0.9 in 26,5%, and higher than 1.10 in 36.2% of patients. The kappa index of agreement of peripheral artery disease according to the Edinburgh Claudication Questionnaire and the ankle-brachial index was 0.33). The questionnaire showed a sensitivity of 50.7% for predicting the diagnosis of peripheral artery disease (ABI <0.9) with a specificity of 82.6%, with positive and negative predictive values of 48.6% and 83.8% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: One-fourth of patients with type 2 diabetes had peripheral artery disease. There was a low level of agreement between the evaluation of symptoms of intermittent claudication and the results of the ankle-brachial index. Presence or absence of symptoms of claudication did not allow for confirming or ruling out peripheral artery disease.